Resources / Ripples & Wipeouts

Other than admiring John McCain for his experience as a prisoner of war, I’m not a big fan.  But I have to say that I was cheering for him this past Sunday when I heard him make a comment on Meet the Press to the effect that US elections would be better if, in addition to campaign finance reform, we had media reform.

Truly, the media are deforming the entire process.  Consider this:  I awoke this morning at 6:00 a.m. and turned on CNN to hear that “early” primary returns were in from New Hampshire and that Hillary Clinton had not gotten a single vote.  I was stunned.  How could that be?  The polls weren’t even open!  Well, it seems that in some small town somewhere in the Granite State they were.  The handful of voters in this town actually cast their ballots right after midnight.  And, always eager to bring down the mighty and stir the pot, CNN (and probably others as well) were calling the election for Obama and McCain.

Now I admit it, I’m a Hillary supporter, so it’s true that I was outraged to hear that she’d lost even before the voting began for real.  I promise you, though, that this would upset me even if I were rooting for a different candidate.  The 24-hour news cycle has had a decidedly detrimental effect on the political process, as have the commentators who set themselves up as experts.  Their real agenda, it seems to me, is to create drama and anxiety because that’s what they believe makes compelling news coverage.

This is really about entertainment, and it’s quite cost effective for the broadcasters, given that these stories don’t require serious news gathering operations, nor do they require human talent that happens to belong to the Writers Guild of America.  What a stroke of luck that primary season coincided with the writers’ strike.  Broadcasters get fresh content at a fraction of the usual cost.

And the beat goes on.  Soon, as the frontrunner, it will be Obama suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous journalism.  I do love the first amendment, and I do love a good political battle.  What I hate is that “gotcha” press coverage has forced all the candidates into little message boxes where being authentic isn’t worth the risk of ending up on the front page with your mouth open.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of Hillary’s death are greatly exaggerated.  And it ain’t over ‘til it’s over, which, by the way, is Yogi Berra.

--BONNIE